SPEAKING TO THE WORLD

Annual Review 2018/19 Patron HRH The Duchess of Cambridge CONTENTS Chair The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint Introduction by the Director Chair of Trustees and the Director 2 Sir Michael Dixon A snapshot of 2018/19 4 Trustees Prof Sir John Beddington CMG FRS Inspiring visitors 6 Dame Frances Cairncross DBE FRSE Prof Christopher Gilligan CBE Across the UK 12 Prof Sir John Holman International reach 18 Anand Mahindra Hilary Newiss Harnessing digital technologies 26 Robert Noel

Simon Patterson World-leading science 32 Prof Sir Stephen Sparks CMG FRS CBE Prof Dame Janet Thornton DBE FRS FMedSci Improving access 38 Dr Kim L Winser OBE Focus on sustainability 40 Trustees as at 31 March 2019 Income and expenditure 42

Our performance 43

Raising revenue 44

Gifts and partnerships 46

Our supporters 48

Cover: Luke Jerram’s The Earth in the Hintze Hall at the Your Planet Needs You Late, November 2018

Right: Skye Meaker’s Lounging Leopard – a peaceful portrait of a leopard at rest in Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve – the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Grand Title winner Running Head

Introduction by the Chair of Trustees and the Director

Occasionally, an image will bring a subject into new focus, exposing an unseen or forgotten truth and energising action. In a year which saw unprecedented global attention for the climate and biodiversity crisis, a photograph of a lounging leopard dappled in sunlight reminded us of the astonishing beauty and fragility of the natural world that sustains us. Its creator, 16-year-old Skye Meaker, winner of the Museum’s Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, attended the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos in January. He appeared alongside the exhibition to showcase these powerful images – and highlight the questions they ask us about what sort of future we want for humanity and our planet. In total, over one million people in 14 countries saw the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, during a year in which we prioritised our international outlook, working with global organisations and reaching across borders to engage audiences with the natural world. Collaborations with national and international institutions are at the core of projects that will underpin leading science research with global impact. We launched SYNTHESIS+ in February, a €10m initiative and the final piece of an ambitious programme, coordinated by the Museum, to create a Europe-wide collections infrastructure. The Museum also collaborated with UK organisations to create the CryoArks Biobank, the first cryopreservation facility for zoological tissue in the country, providing a major boost to conservation research. Inspiring science also saw our temporary exhibitions reach a new high with the thrilling Life in the Dark show. Not only did we break attendance records in London, but the Museum’s giant UK partnership, Dippy on Tour, delivered record visitor numbers and remarkable economic results for museums and communities on the first three stops of its UK tour. Online engagement rose more than five-fold, with an astonishing 6.4 million people reading articles on our website as we continue to use digital advances to open our collection and science to people around the world. Our world is changing fast, and we are making critical choices at a time when people are more disconnected than ever from nature. In the year ahead we will launch a new strategy that will take the Museum through to 2031, 150 years after it was founded. As a trusted scientific authority with global reach, we are powerfully placed to help individuals, governments and society at large to create a future where people and the planet thrive.

Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint Sir Michael Dixon Chair of Trustees Museum Director

Lord Green and Sir Michael Dixon in South Kensington Annual Review 2018/19 5 A SNAPSHOT OF 2018/19

New botanicals In April 2018, two spectacular botanical displays showcasing the diverse and unique flora of the Macaronesian region were installed at the Museum’s main entrance, displaying rare and endangered species and several not commonly cultivated.

On the international stage ‘Zombie ant’ brain scans Boosting biomimetics The Museum brought our showcase Using micro-CT scans on the brain of an The Museum helped unveil a medical photography exhibition to the World infected ant, Museum researchers have adhesive inspired by slug slime, Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting shed light on how the parasitic worm pictured here on a heart, and other in Davos for the first time, as a large- Dicrocoelium dendriticum carries out mind technologies that draw on animals in its scale projection. The Young Wildlife control – it can compel ants into positions collection. These were developed by the Photographer of the Year winner Skye where they are likely to be eaten by a host Bioengineering Department of Imperial Meaker addressed delegates there, sharing in which the parasite can mature. College London, at the 2018 Royal Society a panel with esteemed conservationist Summer Science Exhibition. Dr Jane Goodall.

The Wider Earth gala Lights in the dark Introducing Papilio natewa Professor Caroline Smith’s asteroid Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Blending art, design and science, the The Museum contributed to the discovery Orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, Duchess of Sussex met schoolchildren exhibition Life in the Dark (13 July 2018 to of a new species of papilionid butterfly, asteroid (7635) Carolinesmith honours at the Museum during a gala to support 24 February 2019) featured a fascinating officially namedPapilio natewa, on the the Museum’s Head of Earth Science the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. bioluminescent light installation that island of Vanua Levu, Fiji. There are only Collections and Principal Curator of Commemorating Charles Darwin’s 210th mimicked the behaviours and movements two other swallowtail butterfly species Meteorites. Discovered on 6 November birthday, the event featured a performance of 11 deep-sea animals. known in this part of the Pacific, neither as 1983 by A Mrkos, the asteroid was named of the acclaimed play about the scientist, striking in appearance. after Smith in July 2018. The Wider Earth.

Monitoring microplastic The Anning Rooms Scientists at the Museum had a rare An exclusive suite of new rooms for the numerous important contributions to opportunity to examine microplastic Museum’s Members and Patrons opened science during her lifelong exploration of ingestion in a top predator when a grey in September, featuring this Cabinet Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. seal found on a beach in Kent was brought of Curiosities. The rooms are named in in for dissection. honour of Mary Anning (1799–1847), the celebrated fossil hunter who made

6 Annual Review 2018/19 7 Running Head INSPIRING Running Head VISITORS

The Museum continued to build upon our reputation as a powerful force for connecting people with science and the natural world this year. We enjoyed a record-breaking year for visitor numbers in 2018, delivering a creative programme of experiences and initiatives, all with the aim of fuelling curiosity for, igniting interest in and deepening understanding of the natural world.

Numbers going up

Visits to the Natural History Museum in London rose from 4.5 million to 5.3 million – a 17 per cent increase from 2017/18, making it the fourth most-visited attraction in the UK. The Museum also engaged with over 223,000 school children, over 1.1 million under-16s, and delivered new experiences to reach out to adults. The Museum at Tring hosted over 8,000 school children. Exhibitions drew on science research and the extraordinary Museum collections to delight visitors with the wonders of nature. The world-renowned photography exhibition Wildlife Photographer of the Year, supported in South Kensington by associate sponsors renewable energy company Ørsted and leading photography brand LUMIX, was seen by nearly 140,000 visitors. The exhibition Life in the Dark – which allowed visitors to explore the deep sea – was seen by over 106,000 visitors. The three-year tour of the Natural History Museum’s iconic Diplodocus cast, Dippy, has already been seen by more than one million people.

visitors this year The Museum’s blue whale skeleton Hope welcomes visitors to the Hintze Hall, May 2018 9 Inspiring visitors Inspiring visitors

The Museum’s Learning Volunteering Programme grew and diversified with more than 8,000 volunteering hours in 2018/19 from 85 volunteers. They helped Extraordinary exhibits Darwin theatre ‘It’s a great idea from a Museum which is much the Museum to engage more than 150,000 people in collections-rich learning Nearly 380,000 people saw the For the first time, a traditional conversations, which are underpinned by learning research. Museum’s South Kensington performance theatre was created more than a holding pen for summer holiday exhibitions in 2018/19, including inside the Museum’s Jerwood crowds; its scientists lead research and its work is In good company annual shows Sensational Gallery. The 357-seat auditorium A wide range of partnerships helped achieve this rich programme and reach new Butterflies and Wildlife hosted award-winning show The a living tribute to Darwin’s daring and his genius’ audiences, such as a project with the LEGO Group that supported the delivery of Photographer of the Year and Wider Earth, following sold-out science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) experiences through school brand new shows Life in the Dark seasons in Brisbane and Sydney. London Evening Standard and family programmes. Working with the Natural Environment Research Council (13 July 2018 to 24 February Featuring a cast of seven led to the creation of an evening of events and activities celebrating environmental 2019) and Venom: Killer and cure alongside 30 animal puppets science research, featuring cutting-edge science to engage adults with (to 13 May 2018). handmade by the creative team contemporary issues. With Ørsted, the Museum has been evaluating the first year The spectacular Life in the Dark behind War Horse, The Wider Earth of the Generate: Scientists of the Future programme, gathering evidence to develop pushed the boundaries of temporary tells the story of Charles Darwin’s and grow future opportunities for school children to raise aspirations in science. exhibitions at the Museum, creating five-year voyage on the HMS Matthew Wright, UK managing director at Ørsted, said, ‘Ørsted shares many of atmospheric environments that Beagle. The Museum holds many the same ambitions as the Natural History Museum in seeking both to safeguard brought specimens and habitats specimens collected by Darwin our planet and inspire the next generation of scientists. We take our new name to life. Showcasing more than 130 on his expeditions, and Museum from Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted, who helped lay the foundations 200 specimens from the Museum’s scientists, led by palaeobiologist years ago for the way we produce power today. We hope this exciting partnership collections, this multi-sensory Professor Adrian Lister, worked with will help inspire that same curiosity, dedication and interest in nature in a new show received critical acclaim from the show’s creative producers to generation of scientists.’ media including The Telegraph, ensure it was rooted in authenticity. Time Out, London Evening Standard The run was extended by two and The Observer. months due to popular demand, and relaxed performances helped increase accessibility. A jewel squid makes a striking Guests included Their Royal appearance in Life in the Dark Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Presented by Trish Wadley Productions and Dead The Natural History Museum is the most Puppet Society, The Wider Earth was nominated in the Best visited natural history museum in Europe Entertainment and Family Category and the UK’s top science attraction at the 2019 Olivier Awards. The Wider Earth’s cast and puppets

600,000 visited in August 2018, the Museum’s Into the woods at Tring busiest month on record Over 140,000 visitors a year enjoy In February 2019, to celebrate the Victorian collections of Lionel the 151st anniversary of Rothschild’s 28,000 visited on 30 December 2018, the Museum’s Walter Rothschild, Second Baron birth, a pair of Queen Alexandra busiest day on record Rothschild, at Tring, Hertfordshire, Birdwing butterflies went on show. alongside the Rothschild Library The display highlights important and the Natural History Museum’s conservation and research efforts Visitors to Wildlife Photographer of the Year increased 23% ornithological collection. In 2018 the by scientists aiming to save this compared to 2017/18 Museum staged the free, family- endangered species of one of the friendly exhibition What’s in the largest butterflies in the world. Visitor records were also broken in September 2018, Woods (8 February to 14 October October 2018 and January 2019 2018), a dynamic showcase of UK nature staged across indoor and A leaping fox brings nature outdoor spaces with content that to life in What’s in the Woods changed with the seasons.

10 Annual Review 2018/19 11 Inspiring visitors Inspiring visitors

Luke Jerram’s The Earth in the Hintze Hall

‘At the LEGO Group we want to make a positive impact on the Your Planet Needs You Late On 30 November 2018, the The Museum also displayed world for children. Our partnership with the Natural History Museum partnered with the Earth, a touring artwork by UK artist Museum aims to inspire children’s imagination, creativity Natural Environment Research Luke Jerram that uses images taken Council (NERC) and interactive from space by NASA to recreate and understanding of important sustainability issues’ theatre-makers Coney for a Late the illuminated surface of Earth. event celebrating environmental Created in partnership with NERC, Tim Brooks, Vice President, Environmental Responsibility at the LEGO Group research. Your Planet Needs Blue Dot and The UK Association for You used debate, discussion, Science and Discovery Centres, its performances and games to engage awe-inspiring presence in the Hintze 3,200 visitors in issues including Hall encouraged visitors to reflect on marine plastic pollution, forest the wonder of our planet. biodiversity and measuring carbon storage from space.

Partners in play A night for science A year-long partnership with the The annual European Researchers’ Night is an LEGO Group aiming to inspire young internationally recognised Europe-wide event that people and promote sustainability enhances researchers’ public recognition and aims to messages included an event stimulate interest in research careers. It is an EU-funded celebrating the release of the first initiative across all member states. In 2018, the Museum LEGO elements made from plant- was the London host, presenting a range of interactive based materials. Over 800 young exhibits under the theme Planet 2.0 that explored the visitors engaged in 22 play sessions impact of humans on the planet and how scientists are focusing on learning about the helping move us towards a future where people and the environment, and the event reached natural world thrive. 300,000 on social media. There were 220 researchers with diverse expertise from 22 institutions present. Two hundred visitors attended Hall of FameLab, an exciting, energetic competition run by the Cheltenham Science Festival An interactive exhibit at the European Researchers’ Night A young visitor enjoys LEGO Plants in partnership with the British Council to find the from Plants at the Museum, made using new global voices of science and engineering. Events sustainably sourced sugarcane encouraged dialogue between researchers and visitors on issues such as securing food and resources for an ever-growing population while ensuring we protect the diversity we depend on. With the Museum hosting the event in the capital, Joint ventures others were held across the UK – in The Potteries The Museum is working with University In September, the Museum worked with Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, the Manchester researchers took part in the College London, which received a grant from the Roald Dahl Story Company to develop and Museum, the Great North Museum: Hancock in 220 the National Lottery Heritage Fund on behalf host James and the Giant Weekend, a family Newcastle and Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. Together, European Researchers’ Night of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance. festival celebrating Roald Dahl’s beloved all partners reached over 5,500 visitors, with 362 The initiative Give: Volunteering for Wellbeing, story James and the Giant Peach. It included researchers taking part. in partnership with Valence House and the a host of activities including meeting Museum Horniman Museum and Gardens, explores scientists and James’s real-life bug friends, how, through collections-led programmes, and a creative story-writing workshop with heritage can be made more accessible to the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. people experiencing barriers to health and wellbeing due to social, environmental or economic factors. 22institutions were represented at the event

12 Annual Review 2018/19 Annual Review 2018/19 13 Running Head ACROSS THE UK Running Head

A 26-metre-long dinosaur cast had a remarkable impact on visitor figures and local economies at regional venues this year, as record-breaking numbers visited the stops on the Museum’s Dippy on Tour exhibition. Elsewhere the Museum has worked with UK partners to inspire the next generation of scientists, raising STEM education standards in museums and schools through innovative projects in the Real World Science museum network.

A dinosaur on tour

In less than three months during 2018, the Dorset County Museum tripled its annual visitor figures and its local economy was given a £2.25 million boost. Dippy, the Natural History Museum’s famous Diplodocus cast, had made the first stop in a three-year tour, and had ‘a massive impact on our town’, according to Dorchester’s Mayor Susie Hosford. In partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure is the Museum’s biggest-ever UK-wide partnership activity. Since that first appearance in Dorchester, Dippy has also broken records in every other venue he has visited so far – and has now been seen by over one million people. Using transport provided by associate sponsor Williams and Hill, with stops in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and five English regions, the tour runs until 2020. Dippy’s hosts in Birmingham, Belfast and Glasgow have, like the Dorset County Museum, reported not only astonishing results for visitor figures, but also for engagement and economic impact during the tour’s run. A strong element of the ‘Dippy effect’ has been its boost to community spirit, for example in Dorset, where local people and businesses came together to share in the exhibition’s success. The tour won Partnership of the Year at the Museums and Heritage Awards 2019, where broadcaster Rev Richard Coles reported that judges were ‘particularly struck by the generosity of this partnership, which was enormously successful and brilliantly transformative for all involved’.

Dippy the Diplodocus cast brought 635,000 people to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, a record for a temporary show at the museum 15 RunningAcross the Head UK Across the UK

Inspiring change Breaking records Dippy has been a catalyst for innovation, motivating valuable partnerships between museums and local organisations and businesses, fun new STEM learning approaches in Birmingham, and Ireland’s first trial of contactless payments for donations at the Ulster Museum. The Natural History Museum has also explored how to extend engagement digitally, developing the app Dippy’s Naturenauts with DIPPY the tour’s associate sponsor Dell EMC.

Reaching new audiences A commitment to inspiring communities and young people to engage in natural history unites all the tour’s partners, and each venue is creating its own stories ON TOUR based on local narratives. Initiatives run with the Jurassic Coast Trust saw 25,000 people enjoy Dippy-themed adventures in Dorset, with a tour of a 3D-printed Dippy skull at visitor centres and libraries all along the coast. Nearly 16,000 people Kelvingrove Art Gallery attended Dippy-themed community and family events such as storytelling and and Museum, Glasgow craft workshops on-site at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Over 200 new During his stay in Glasgow Dippy volunteers were recruited and trained in Dorset, 65 in Birmingham and 50 in Belfast. was seen by 635,000 people, Access initiatives have ranged from free transport for foster families and community setting a visitor record for a groups around Belfast, to private events for children with a range of health conditions temporary exhibition at Kelvingrove in Dorset. Inspired by the tour of a 3D-printed replica Dippy skull across libraries Art Gallery, and reaching his and schools in Dorset by the Jurassic Coast Trust, the Ulster Museum took a Dippy one-millionth visitor overall skull and dino demonstrations to socially deprived areas across Northern Ireland, while the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery ran a BioBlitz nature survey in an area Dippy receives a fond farewell of high deprivation. at the Dorset County Museum

Birmingham Ulster Museum, Belfast Museum & Art Gallery Brought in 4,200 people The museum’s most on one day, the museum’s successful temporary highest daily visitor number exhibition ever doubled ever for an exhibition attendance compared to the same period the previous year. It attracted 140,000 additional visitors to Birmingham’s city centre, spending £4.2 million

‘Dippy has inspired people of all ages to visit the museum. Many of them have never visited Dorset County Museum Dorset County Museum before, and lots of them have never visited any museum Tripled annual attendance numbers, before… The Dippy on Tour project is absolutely inspirational’ with 153,000 visitors in under three months. Susie Hosford, Mayor of Dorchester Engaged 25,000 in Dippy-themed adventures

Annual Review 2018/19 17 Across the UK Running Head

UK citizen science STEM Careers for All Citizen science projects enable the Museum An initiative led by the Museum’s It centres on work experience, to tackle pressing environmental research Real World Science partner Leeds which, research has shown, can questions while making science more open, Museums and Galleries aims to empower young people with SEND supporting people to develop scientific address the STEM gap for young by improving their self-esteem, skills and expertise. people with special educational developing skills, identifying The Museum’s Citizen Science Programme needs and disabilities (SEND), who their needs in the workplace and has enabled nearly 10,000 people across the make up around 1.24 per cent of aiding their understanding of UK to contribute to real scientific research this pupils. The specialist approach workplace culture. year. A free Identification and Advisory Service required to address their needs means The project is set to directly at the Museum this year helped 2,300 people they are often left out of careers benefit over 2,700 young people, learn more about their natural history finds, programmes, limiting opportunities to build a model for adoption by including the first UK observation of the brown pursue STEM careers. other partners in the Real World scavenger beetle Eufallia seminiveus, which The Museum is helping deliver Science network and inform other originates from the US. Two rare fossils from the two-year programme STEM organisations nationwide. the Isle of Wight were added to the collection: Careers for All, supported by the the right upper jaw of a creodont (an extinct Eranda Rothschild Foundation. type of carnivorous mammal) and a well- preserved Neovenator dinosaur tooth.

A Stegosaurus Workshop in 2018 brings pupils into contact with the collection

Real World Science and schools Learning from a successful trial funded by the Foyle Foundation at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle, the Museum piloted Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training for primary science teachers in London in November 2018. The training gives primary school teachers the skills and confidence to become curriculum leaders in science, using museums and collections to enhance science learning in and outside the classroom, and helps teachers support their colleagues' development. Training at the Museum drew lessons from the pilot, particularly from the Great North Museum’s strong relationships with schools and experience with CPD projects for teachers, which will inform a wider CPD programme for the Museum’s national partnerships.

BioBlitz wildlife surveys are citizen science projects that all ages can enjoy, such as this 18 event in May 2018 Running Head INTERNATIONAL Running Head REACH

As a world-leading scientific institution, collaboration across borders is core to the Museum’s work, and with Brexit on the horizon the Museum has redoubled efforts to work with international organisations. From touring major exhibitions to a new partnership with the World Economic Forum, the Museum has strived to influence the global agenda and pioneer ways to bring local, national and global communities together.

In Davos

In January 2019, the Museum presented the 100 images from our 54th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos. Wildlife Photographer of the Year was shown as a large-scale video projection around the walls of the venue’s central atrium, allowing images to be seen by all delegates. This display provided a crucial opportunity for the world’s decision- makers to engage with the subjects documented in the photographs, including vulnerable ecosystems and endangered species. Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Skye Meaker spoke at the event alongside internationally renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall. Sixteen-year- old Meaker won the coveted award in October 2018 for his portrait of a leopard waking in Botswana, and described his love for the natural world and his journey into wildlife photography. He said, ‘To think that my dream of sharing my pictures with the world would not only come true by winning Young Wildlife Photographer

countries hosted Wildlife Photographer

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year of the Year 2018 winner Skye Meaker at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos 21 International reach International reach

of the Year, but allow me to be the youngest speaker at the WEF Annual Meeting, is just truly mind-blowing, and I am both honoured and grateful for the opportunity Touring treasures A new museum in Sarawak Commonwealth spouses event [this] has given me.’ The Museum’s most ambitious The Museum held our final peer The Museum teamed up with This initiative provided further international recognition for Wildlife Photographer international touring exhibition review workshop with the Sarawak the Foreign and Commonwealth of the Year, which has been shown at 34 venues in 14 countries and attracted attracted large audiences in key Museum, Kuching, Malaysia, in Office in April 2018 to host a 1.1 million visitors over the past year. It resulted in many lively and important Asian cities this year. Treasures of March 2019. As part of preparations landmark event for the spouses conversations around sustainability and climate change, and Meaker was named the Natural World featured more for the new Sarawak Museum of the Commonwealth heads of one of the Cultural Leaders of the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. than 200 spectacular artefacts, Campus complex, the Museum team government and the spouses of ‘The breathtaking images from Wildlife Photographer of the Year played a key role specimens and artworks from the studied the new building design their respective foreign ministers. in facilitating an urgent conversation with world leaders at the Annual Meeting collection; among them one of and business plan to advise on an In the Atrium of the Darwin Centre, in Davos about the state of nature today,’ said Nico Daswani, Head of Arts and Darwin’s Galápagos finches, and the operational management model guests explored a series of mini Culture at the World Economic Forum. fossil Iguanodon bone described by and standard operating procedures. science exhibits and table-top the Museum’s founder, Sir Richard Museum staff discussed the role displays highlighting the Museum’s Owen, in his groundbreaking paper and responsibilities of a twenty- work and collection from across that coined the term dinosaur. first-century museum. the Commonwealth. The exhibition ran in Taipei Building on a Department for from 4 July to 19 September 2018, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs This eighteenth-century ring in where it received 146,000 visitors evening highlighting the importance Treasures of the Natural World in just over two months, making it of oceans, the spouses event features a rare weevil – found only on the island of Hispaniola – and a line the most popular exhibition in the showcased international projects of Virgil’s poetry country that summer. including a collaborative study of biodiversity along Africa’s east coast and the digitising of the Museum’s Malaysian collections.

Examining international collections at an event for spouses of Commonwealth heads of government

SPARK Festival of Ideas A team from the Museum travelled Susannah Morley, Director to Hong Kong in January 2019 to Programmes and Partnerships participate in the British Council’s at the British Council, said: ‘[The inaugural SPARK Festival of Ideas, Museum] was a natural partner celebrating creativity in art, science because it exemplifies how the arts and education across more than 30 and sciences can work together events over three days. harmoniously to make complex Museum staff delivered ideas both accessible and exciting.’ activities showcasing thought leadership and expertise in public engagement and citizen science, including the Hong Kong BioBlitz in which 600 scientists, students, naturalists and members of the public created a snapshot of the wildlife on Hong Kong Island.

Two of the 600 people who attended the Museum’s Hong Kong BioBlitz at the British Council’s inaugural SPARK Festival of Ideas Annual Review 2018/19 23 International reach International reach

Global citizen science Heritage is GREAT ‘The addition of the Natural History Museum to the dig team is A $2.2 million grant from Wellcome, the US Hintze Hall and Hope, the Museum’s National Science Foundation and the UK spectacular blue whale skeleton, likely to bring a very modern dimension to these 150 million- Economic and Social Research Council is featured in the UK’s global GREAT year-old items of interest… footage and discoveries will be supporting the LEARN CitSci international campaign this year, launched at research collaboration, enabling the Museum, the annual Museums and Heritage broadcast on the Natural History Museum’s digital channels’ the California Academy of Sciences and the Show in London and run by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Department for International Trade. National Geographic County to understand how to enhance learning outcomes and impacts for children and young people taking part in museum-led citizen science projects. The Museum’s Citizen Science Manager also leads the European Citizen Science Association, a network of more than 150 academic institutions from over 28 countries that are committed to enhancing society’s role in scientific and policy processes through citizen science. Through this leadership role, the Museum builds capacity for citizen science among peer organisations, advocates for this approach within the European Commission and United Nations Environment Programme, and champions excellence in The Museum features in global both the research and engagement aspects promotion for the UK of citizen science. Key outputs include an international conference in Geneva in 2018 hosting over 400 delegates, Ten Principles of Citizen Science published in 27 languages, Unearthing prehistory at and a successful Horizon 2020 grant from the Jurassic Mile dig site the European Commission to develop a in Wyoming, USA Europe-wide training and knowledge- sharing platform for citizen science over the next three years. Digging for dinosaurs In March 2019 it was announced already uncovered the bones of that the Museum will join forces two giant sauropod dinosaurs – a with project lead The Children’s 24-metre-long Brachiosaurus and Museum of Indianapolis and the 30-metre-long Diplodocus. Almost Naturalis Biodiversity Center in 600 fossilised bones, weighing Leiden to excavate a square mile nearly 5.4 tonnes, have been of land in Wyoming, USA. The collected over the past two years – Mission Jurassic project is named although only a fraction of the site after an area known as the Jurassic has been explored. Mile, which is rich in extraordinary Led by The Children’s Jurassic dinosaur and fish fossils, Museum of Indianapolis, Museum trackways and fossilised plants. palaeontologists Dr Susannah Initial excavations at the Maidment and Professor Paul site, carried out by University of Barrett will join a team of experts Manchester palaeontologists to coordinate excavations working for The Children’s from June 2019. Museum of Indianapolis, have

24 Running Head Running Head

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Grand Title winner Marsel van Oosten captured a striking pair of Qinling golden snub-nosed monkeys in his image The Golden Couple. Fewer than 4,000 of this 26endangeredAnnual species Review survive 2018/19 Running Head HARNESSING DIGITAL Running Head TECHNOLOGIES

Record numbers of people engaged with the Museum’s digital channels this year. The Discover and News sections of the website saw a 33 per cent increase in digital visitors over the year, while social channels delivered record engagement, and new digital experiences helped people participate in science and learn about the natural world. In science, pioneering digital innovation continued to revolutionise the potential of the collection as a global asset for scientific research.

SYNTHESYS

The European Commission-funded SYNTHESYS (Synthesis of Systematic Resources) initiative has enabled major research projects into some of the planet’s biggest challenges – from disease distribution and transmission to plastic and metal pollution in marine mammals and food crop sustainability. Coordinated by the Natural History Museum since 2004, SYNTHESYS aims to develop a network of European natural science collections as an integrated research infrastructure, and includes support for visiting scientists in using collections across institutions. To date, SYNTHESYS awards have supported over 4,000 research visits, generating close to 5,000 publications including books, monographs, peer- reviewed papers and theses.

The next step SYNTHESYS+, which began in February 2019, is the fourth in a series of grant awards and is a €10m project with an expanded network of 31 scientific institutions across 21 European countries. Prominent activities include a major programme of biodiversity informatics and genomic research, improving digital and molecular access to collections, as well as efforts to internationalise European SYNTHESYS+ will improve collections’ data standards and policies. digital access to natural SYNTHESYS+ will fund collections access for thousands of users; deliver a new history collections, virtual access programme by providing a ‘digitisation on demand’ service; introduce such as the Museum’s a unified gateway to digital, physical and molecular collections; and provide a remarkable collection new data-processing platform to dramatically speed up the digital mobilisation of of Birdwing butterfly specimens, which can make a unique contribution to tackling environmental challenges today 29 Harnessing digital technologies Harnessing digital technologies

natural history collections. SYNTHESYS+ is a contributor to DiSSCo (the Distributed System of Scientific Collections), an initiative that brings together the collections of Online impact Audiences of the future 115 partner institutions across 21 countries and more than 5,000 scientists. Our website continued to grow this year as an international In January 2019, the Museum announced a pioneering The Museum has played a leading role in the development of the DiSSCo destination for news and features about the natural world. The collaboration with seven leading British organisations initiative, which was successfully admitted to the European ESFRI roadmap in 2018. Discover (science) section saw a five-fold increase in article across culture, entertainment and education – including With a vision to digitally unify natural science collections, DiSSCo will, over eight consumption, and views of News articles increased seven-fold. the Almeida Theatre, the Science Museum and the years, develop infrastructure to align partner institutions. Initiatives will improve A more engaging tone of voice delivered 1.28 million University of Exeter – aiming to improve museum visits digital and physical access, develop common policy frameworks, create a register interactions (shares, likes and comments) across Facebook, of the future through storytelling and cutting-edge of experts linked to European collections, and help to develop the next generation Twitter and Instagram in 2018, an increase of 18 per virtual technology. of researchers, citizen scientists and educators to improve our understanding cent year on year. Two adventure game experiences will allow visitors of the natural world. to take on the role of detectives and enjoy interactive encounters with either dinosaurs or robots. Led by Tackling threats to nature creative content studio Factory 42, the two-year Europe’s natural science collections, containing an estimated 1.5 billion specimens Website year on year, development project is funded by a £4 million grant collected over 250 years, make a unique contribution to tackling environmental users up 33% from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation challenges. Data from these can tell us how the earth and its natural systems from 6.8 million to 9.1 million (UKRI), as part of the wider Audiences of the Future formed over 4.5 billion years, and what impact humans have had over the past initiative to maintain the leading position of the UK’s few thousand years. By unlocking and sharing this information on a global scale, cultural sector. SYNTHESYS+ promises to create an unmatched research tool for scientists to Factory 42 and the museums are also backing study the diversity of life around the globe and across time, and help to map UK users increased 17% from 4.4 million the project with their own match funding and a sustainable future. to 5.2 million further financial investment has been made by UK entertainment group Sky plc and Magic Leap, the US spatial computing company. Digital education company Pearson and shopping centre group Intu plc provide Users from the rest of the world increased strategic support.

Billions of records accessed 61% from 2.4 million to 4 million As part of our Digital Collections Programme, the Museum is digitising some of the most endangered butterflies on the planet and Traffic from social mediamore than doubled documenting and releasing 3D models of the from 290,000 visits in 2017 to 604,000 fossil mammals that Charles Darwin collected on his voyage on the HMS Beagle. visits in 2018 This work has devised and continuously improved workflows for digitisation, and created the Museum’s Data Portal to release Visits to Discover section of website digital specimens openly. The Data Portal ‘Thanks to the magic of currently houses over 4.2 million specimen increased 60%, from 4 million in 2017 records, and with partners such as the Global technology and the minds of Biodiversity Information Facility, more than 16 to 6.4 million in 2018 billion records have been accessed in around some brilliant technologists, 200,000 download events since April 2015. To date, the Museum has tracked over creatives and scientists, 250 scientific papers that cite our digital collections. We are working to improve audiences will soon be automated tracking, which is expected to able to see, smell, hear and reveal many more papers and enhance our understanding of the impact of the touch dinosaurs as part of a digital collections. group of family or friends’

All data based on calendar year 2018 vs 2017. Source: Google Analytics John Cassy, Factory 42 Chief Executive A wasp (Trigonopsis cooperi) and its labels imaged using high throughput workflow for 30 pinned insects 31 Running Head Harnessing digital technologies

Dippy’s Naturenauts Created in tandem with the major national partnership Dippy on Tour and with its associate sponsor Dell EMC alongside Intel and Microsoft, the Museum launched an app in May 2018 for children aged four and above called Dippy’s Naturenauts. Characters Dippy and Fern the fox lead the user through a series of exploratory games created to encourage them to interact with the natural world around them. With Dippy’s Naturenauts, the Museum learned that it is possible to develop engaging digital experiences for mobile users without the need to download a native app. Since its launch, the science product team has worked with families and potential Naturenauts users to discover what they would find most valuable.

An app for young people that encourages engagement with nature, Dippy’s Naturenauts was developed with Dell EMC, Intel and Microsoft

‘As leaders in technology, it's our responsibility to inspire young individuals and help them to understand the exciting opportunities that a career in STEM holds. This app is a great example of how we can encourage engagement with nature, through the power of digital technology’

Claire Vyvyan, Senior Vice President UK & Ireland, Commercial, Dell EMC

32 Annual Review 2018/19 33 Running Head WORLD-LEADING Running Head SCIENCE

Revolutionary digital, analytical and genomic technologies are transforming the potential of the Museum’s collections and science. This year, we have attracted new funding, led international consortia and published significant research findings bearing on some of society’s biggest challenges. We provided collections access to thousands of scientists, helped train the next generation of researchers and curators, and engaged with industry to develop vital technology. Museum scientists also collaborated with exhibitions teams to bring the latest scientific thinking to life for our visitors.

A new look at deep time

The Natural History Museum’s 80 million-strong specimen collection is notable not only for its size, but also for its variety. Among the questions inspired by the incredible diversity of the natural world are: Why are there so many species? And why are living things shaped as they are? Why do some forms that we can imagine, like dragons, never evolve, while other forms seem to evolve in different groups over and over again? Over the past four years, a multi-stranded project titled Adaptive, led by Natural Sciences Research Leader Anjali Goswami, has looked into what shapes biodiversity. Focusing on morphology, the study of organisms’ structures and forms, it explores evolution through time and works on a macro scale, using thousands of 3D images and analysing extensive datasets. The project’s goal is to reconstruct the factors that have shaped the diversity of life on the planet to date, and give us the power to predict how animals might change in their anatomy in response to future changes in the global environment and ecosystems. The team of 12 scientists has run studies on skeletal evolution across all vertebrates, from salamanders to dinosaurs, including an investigation of what impacts skull shape across 352 bird species, how metamorphosis speeds up evolution in salamanders, and anatomical changes in whales in response to climate change, which can reveal much about ocean health.

The Adaptive project asks, why might a group of birds display many differences in beak shape, but little in feet or wings? (Image: A blue-crowned lorikeet, usually found in Samoa and Tonga) 35 World-leading science Running Head

A question of evolution While evolution leads to many forms, each individual needs to be functional – all Riches from the deep parts, even when changing, must work as an organism – placing constraints on Thousands of specimens from the what variations emerge and persist. ocean floor joined the Museum Adaptive looks at what causes patterns of change and variation and how collection in 2018, gathered on factors like climate or extinction might be involved. It asks how differences a marine survey of UK overseas emerge in certain body parts. For example, a group of birds might display territories Tristan da Cunha and St many differences or faster evolution in beaks, but little in feet or wings – how Helena. Discovery Expedition 100 do we explain this in scientific terms? How does it happen and what are the aimed to learn more about ocean implications for future change? life there and how to protect it. Because Museum scientists understand evolutionary relationships through work Many of the specimens it yielded on DNA and anatomy, they can see which features evolve more quickly as species are from below the twilight zone – change and separate, and how different sets of features relate to one another. This collected using equipment capable can help to explain why diversity is unevenly distributed and what impact global of 1,000-metre dives. They are changes will have on species diversity. being examined by curators for new insights into life underwater in the Pioneering tech region, and for new species. The Museum team is using cutting-edge digital imaging technologies such as high- The expedition was a joint definition laser and micro-CT scanners to create 3D scans of mammals, birds and Cefas Blue Belt Programme and other vertebrates, and complex computing to manipulate and analyse these digital British Antarctic Survey Overseas forms with unparalleled detail. Development Assistance project. Over 500 3D data files have already been made freely available for other scientists to use via phenome10k.org. Sharing open data from Museum collections and research enables wider use around the world, better collaboration and more rapid progress in understanding complex questions.

A site for study Being based in the Museum gives Adaptive many advantages: collections material that has been reliably researched and described; imaging labs and bioinformatics investments; and the potential for comparisons between, and applying innovation to, new groups – for example, are the answers being found for birds different from those for insects? Its location also places the project at the centre of a major international concentration of people working on macroevolution and macroecology. The Adaptive project is predominantly funded by a European Research Council grant, with additional major funding from the Leverhulme Trust, the Natural Environment Research Council, the EU Marie Curie Actions and the US National Science Foundation.

advanced 3D specimen scans made available to scientists globally Examining a vampire squid, one of the specimens collected during a marine survey of Tristan da Cunha and St Helena 36 in the south Atlantic ocean World-leading science World-leading science

Alien invaders The secrets of wheat and soil Cities and citizen science Banking on genetics Revisiting human history A Europe-wide team that included Major strands of research that will feed The City Nature Challenge is a global The Natural History Museum A new study co-authored by world- the Museum’s seaweed specialist innovation and improvements in agriculture competition to engage people living in joined forces with leading renowned palaeoanthropologist Professor Juliet Brodie identified are being driven by scientists at the cities worldwide with documenting the UK institutions to launch the Professor Chris Stringer has placed 66 alien species that risk becoming Museum this year. Research Leader Dr Matt urban nature around them. In 2018, London CryoArks Biobank in July 2018, anatomically modern humans the greatest threats to European Clark leads an international investigation, competed with 67 other cities around the the first of its kind in the country. in south-western Europe some biodiversity in the next decade – funded by the Biotechnology and Biological world. The Museum led the London City The cryopreservation facility 10,000 years earlier than is usually ranging from the fox squirrel to the Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), into Nature Challenge partnership and organised will hold zoological tissue from believed. Based on the evidence striped eel catfish. Unique in its the exceptionally complex genome of bread a large-scale 24-hour BioBlitz event in Hyde laboratories, zoos, aquariums and of their stone tools, Neanderthals breadth and reach, the project used wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which is little Park leading to over 2,600 observations of museums, giving unprecedented were replaced by modern humans horizon-scanning to pinpoint species understood despite the fact that it is the UK’s more than 730 urban species in just four days. centralised access to cells and at Bajondillo Cave, southern Spain, most likely to arrive, establish, most important crop and the world’s most DNA from endangered species and approximately 44,000 years ago, spread and have an impact. widely cultivated cereal. other wildlife and greatly aiding and the site’s location supports the Tomato, apple and strawberry crops conservation research. idea of coastal corridors as routes are the focus of Museum scientists working CyroArks was created with for modern humans out of Africa. as part of the EU-funded EXCALIBUR a £1m grant from the BBSRC’s collaboration to find out how practices, from Bioinformatics and Biological fertilisation to pest control, impact below- Resources Fund. ground biodiversity in horticultural farming, Samples being stored at -196 degrees seeking new insights into the interactions Celsius in the Museum’s Molecular between plants and complex soil ecosystems. Collections Facility

The venomous striped eel catfish (Plotosus ‘The CryoArks Biobank provides us with an lineatus) has been identified as one of the species most threatening to European biodiversity unparalleled opportunity to better manage and share this vast amount of genetic material’

Professor Mike Bruford, Cardiff University

DNA in the garden With funding from the National Geographic Society, the Museum is working with the London Wildlife Trust and volunteer citizen scientists to investigate how cutting- edge environmental DNA techniques can support practical conservation. The project reveals the hidden wildlife of inner- city London, with a focus on the tiny insects, other invertebrates and microorganisms that play an important, if unnoticed, role in maintaining healthy environments. Samples will be analysed using emerging next-generation – or high throughput – DNA sequencing, which allows many millions of DNA fragments to be sequenced from a single scoop of soil or vial of pond water.

Collecting samples of ‘hidden’ wildlife for DNA sequencing

39 IMPROVING ACCESS

This year, we’ve launched and expanded multiple projects to make discovering Opening up to D/deaf audiences A museum leader in autism and learning about the natural world more accessible and inclusive for all. Relaxed performances, early openings and multi-sensory events for autistic children, specialist The Museum has tightened our focus on reaching Supported by a fresh tranche of three-year funding from out more effectively to D/deaf audiences in 2018/19, the Lord Leonard and Lady Estelle Wolfson Foundation, puppetry workshops for blind audiences and D/deaf-led British Sign Language tours commissioning a series of 10 British Sign Language six additional Dawnosaurs events took place in 2018/19 have all helped to enhance access for diverse and under-represented audiences. (BSL) D/deaf-led behind-the-scenes tours of the Spirit in South Kensington and Tring. Around 3,500 visitors Collection, facilitated by a collections-trained D/deaf benefited from events as part of the new funding cultural expert. stream, a significant increase on 2017/18. For D/deaf people, English is often a second Now entering its fifth year, the Museum’s language and therefore can be ineffective as the sole Dawnosaurs programme provides autistic children means of communication, so British Sign Language is and their families with calm and supportive museum an essential additional layer of museum interpretation. engagement away from the usual crowds and sensory These new D/deaf-led tours allow for BSL to be overload. Events include ‘relaxed’ early access to most communicated directly from D/deaf person to D/deaf galleries, live animal shows and other science learning person, rather than being translated via a third-party and creative activities. A Changing Places toilet is also BSL hearing interpreter – an approach that has proven available for mobility-disabled visitors and a sensory incredibly successful and is preferred by the vast room for those needing quiet. majority of BSL-using D/deaf audiences. Additions to the programme this year included live music in Hintze Hall, Dawnosaurs events at Tring and free entry to the Life in the Dark exhibition, which welcomed over 1,200 autistic children and their families across three events.

A collaboration with London charity Accessing The Wider Earth Mousetrap in the dark Mousetrap brought disadvantaged and As part of the Access Programme voices and ask questions; and The Museum recently joined forces with Mousetrap, disabled audiences to Life in the Dark linked to the hit stage show The audio-described performances a London charity focused on promoting cultural Wider Earth, presented in a custom- made possible through VocalEyes. opportunities for disadvantaged and disabled young built theatre inside the Jerwood Furthermore, two relaxed people and families. Mousetrap collaborated with Gallery, the Museum programmed performances for autistic audiences the Museum’s community partnership programme, accessible events for blind and and their families in January and and its access and inclusion work supporting partially sighted audiences and February 2019 sold a total of disabled visitation. Reaching refugees those on the autistic spectrum. 264 Access tickets. They began As part of its Family First Nights programme, On 14 August 2018, the Natural an Investigate session and a craft Approximately 60 blind children with a pre-show behind-the- Mousetrap families were invited to book reduced-rate History Museum welcomed a activity, the visit was highly valued and parents / carers attended scenes handling event offering an tickets for the Life in the Dark exhibition. Visitors who group of 30 people from refugee by CARAS families. two events in November 2018, important opportunity for these might not normally visit the Museum were immersed in and asylum-seeking backgrounds As a cultural stakeholder, the Meetings with actors from a collaboration between Dead audiences to engage meaningfully the dark and mysterious world of creatures who thrive into the Museum for a special visit. Museum has an important role The Wider Earth and puppetry Puppets Society, Mousetrap, with this spectacular performance. workshops featured in events for at night. The event was a success and received excellent Organised through Community to play in supporting groups and VocalEyes and the Natural History A dedicated sensory quiet room the blind and partially sighted feedback from attendees. Action for Refugees and Asylum networks like CARAS, who work to Museum. The events included a for those needing calm was also Seekers (CARAS), an outreach improve the quality of life for UK puppetry workshop; a multi-sensory provided during the interval. charity in London, the visit included residents. The visit will be used touch tour; a chance to meet actors young children and older adults, as a model for work that reaches from The Wider Earth, hear their some of whom were visiting for the out to audiences with similar first time. Featuring a short tour, needs in the future.

40 Annual Review 2018/19 41 FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY

Like all large organisations, the Museum’s operations impact on the environment Driving change locally, nationally and globally. In 2018, the Museum continued its drive to increase the sustainability of its operations. From trialling a new hydrogen fuel In March 2019 the Natural History Museum became the latest in cell car and working with the Mayor of London to reduce single-use plastics, a series of distinguished UK to sharing its leading examples with peer organisations, last year the Museum organisations to explore the endeavoured to uphold its place at the vanguard of institutions working towards potential of Toyota’s hydrogen fuel a sustainable future. cell technology, acquiring the new Mirai saloon with support from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, Hydrogen Mobility Europe and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. On a full tank the car can cover around 300 miles and produces no emissions other than pure water. The Mirai will be used on regular journeys when taking public transport is not possible and for shuttle trips between South Kensington and Tring, and will help to ascertain the viability of transferring all vehicles to hydrogen.

Green Impact Award winners in the Museum’s Wildlife Garden

Growth of Green Impact Fountains launch 100% certified An example to follow Green Impact is a sustainable behaviour change In 2018, the Museum stopped cutlery replaced with glasses and The Museum has achieved the new international The Museum has worked hard to The Museum’s Environmental programme for Museum staff run with the National selling single-use plastic water metal cutlery (or wooden cutlery environmental management system standard enable peer capital, cultural and and Sustainability Officer, Sarah Union of Students. In the programme’s fourth year at the bottles at our sites in South in two pop-up cafés that do not ISO 14001:2015 following audits by the British heritage organisations to reduce Dobson, presented at the Greater Museum, 395 Green Impact actions were completed – Kensington and Tring, and joined have washing facilities). Our Standards Institute. environmental impacts by sharing London Assembly’s roundtable the largest annual figure yet. Teams across the Museum with the #OneLess initiative to Members’ packs went plastic free, Funding also continues for research into the its leading examples. It worked event, ‘How can London’s culture took actions from streamlining recycling processes promote a ‘refillable culture’ across with membership cards now made environmental impacts of Museum operations, including with the #OneLess Pioneer Network and creative industries sector to volunteering in the Wildlife Garden and holding a London. We installed new water from a fully recyclable chalk-based an original MSc dissertation research project with to bring design fellows together support the delivery of the Mayor’s communal vegan bring-and-share lunch. fountains at both sites, to enable material, and magazines mailed the University of Surrey focused on material options to explore solutions to London’s Environment Strategy’, sharing visitors to refill water bottles. in biodegradable wrap made from available when considering single-use water products. reliance on plastic bottled water, the Museum’s journey of enabling The South Kensington fountain potato starch. Environmental objectives are focused on reducing culminating in an exhibition at the sustainability through design. was installed as part of the London Teams across the Museum the Museum’s direct emissions, as well as indirect London Design Festival. Drinking Fountain Fund, working are working to challenge and emissions from our electricity consumption and alongside the #OneLess Pioneer reduce waste through all our supply chain. We are working to improve, embed and Network and the Mayor of London operations and supply chain, and communicate environmental management. The impacts to tackle plastic pollution, and was we are setting ambitious new of our waste and staff and exhibition travel will be supplied by MIW Cooler Experts. targets this year to address urgent targeted, along with reducing water use and improving Efforts to reduce plastic waste environmental challenges. the biodiversity of the Museum’s grounds. have also seen plastic cups and

42 Annual Review 2018/19 43 INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OUR PERFORMANCE

Income 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Total visitor numbers Visitor numbers to touring exhibitions School visits 1

Admissions and membership 3,633 4,605 4,560 4,606,000 2,767,422 251,964

Government grant-in-aid 49,115 41,815 42,455 4,712,000 1,649,247 209,673

Other (incl. investment income) 983 1,067 1,270 5,493,000 2,214,347 231,228

Scientific and other grants 5,810 9,246 8,985

Value of major research grants won £k 2 Number of visitor days for visiting researchers Publications in peer-reviewed journals Sponsorship and donations 9,175 9,170 6,679

4,300 8,103 692 Trading activities 18,977 19,561 22,626

5,500 12,721 530 Total income 87,693 85,464 86,575

4,400 15,125 482

3 4 Expenditure 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Fundraising income £k Net income from trading activities £k Number of unique website visits

4,281 7,104 9,200,000 Commercial costs 11,873 12,948 13,650

Communications / Marketing 1,713 2,160 2,117 6,915 6,613 9,900,000

Depreciation 13,586 13,915 15,620 4,688 8,976 12,800,000

Development / Fundraising 2,175 2,044 1,639 Facebook page likes Instagram followers Twitter followers Scientific curation, research and libraries 23,026 26,196 25,740 417,000 109,000 1,992,000 Support costs 17,695 17,325 17,050 491,971 205,000 2,300,000 Visitor facing activities 19,682 20,189 17,962 482,000 392,000 2,300,000 Total expenditure 89,750 94,777 93,778

Net incoming / outgoing resources inc depreciation (2,057) (9,313) (7,203) 2016/17

Net incoming / outgoing resources exc depreciation 11,529 4,602 8,417 2017/18

Capital expenditure 8,928 9,390 4,664 2018/19

Figures shown in £k

1 Previously reported the number of children aged 16 and under in on and offsite organised educational activities. 2017/18 reflects the impact of an incident in Exhibition Road in October 2017 and the terrorist threat more widely in London. 2 The figure for 2017/18 has been restated to reflect changes in exchange rates for grant awards in overseas currencies. 3 This figure relates to banked income and the value of any gifts or services received in kind. It does not include on-site visitor donations or gifts made through the Natural History Museum Development Trust. 4 The numbers have been restated to reflect the definition as per the DCMS management agreement. The numbers exclude depreciation.

NB Figures are subject to audit. Our Annual Report and Accounts 2018/2019, available on our website from July 2019, includes fully 44 audited statistics on our performance, income and expenditure. It can be found here: www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/reports-accounts.html. 45 RAISING REVENUE

A drop in real terms in our government grant over recent years means self-generated income Wild success in retail Catering news Science funding wins is more important than ever. The Museum has been working tirelessly to adapt to today’s challenging funding environment, with much success. Net income from trading activities of nearly The Licensing department launched Strong results were achieved More than £4.4 million in funds was awarded to the its first ever womenswear collection throughout the Museum’s cafés, Museum this year. Scientists have seen continued £9 million has been accompanied by record results such as visitor events breaking the £1 million with clothing retailer Oasis, a restaurants and pop-ups, including success in securing research grants in collaboration income mark for the first time – allowing the Museum to increase accessibility and maintain 34-piece collection called Wild the outdoor offering on the East with university, industrial and other partners, world-class institutional standards. & Wonderful. The collaboration Lawn in London and the catering including €908,000 in the EU-funded EXCALIBUR included store windows across operation run in conjunction with collaboration looking at the role of soil microbes in the UK, bespoke swing tags the ice rink – as well as daytime food production. The Museum leads a number of and shopping bags. conference hospitality and after- important Research Council-funded projects and A two-year deal was also hours events. A major highlight has been awarded £475,000 from the BBSRC for confirmed with Fat Face for was the implementation of a international collaboration on the genome of wheat (see childrenswear. It has proved a new catering model at Tring’s World-leading science, p36, for more information). resounding triumph, with the Ugly Bug Café, which has greatly External funds have also supported the annual Dippy on Tour design becoming the improved the visitor experience. All European Research Night programmes in London and in retailer’s most successful T-shirt of this combined to help catering other UK cities in partnership with local museums, while in 2018. Licensing also moved generate a record £800,000 profit others are driving new development in citizen science, into new categories this financial for the Museum. involving wider groups of the public in science with year, including home furnishings higher value impact. (wallpaper and soft furnishings) and print-on-demand gifting. During the 2018/19 period, the retail business delivered income in excess of £9 million and a profit of more than £1.5 million.

Coming to life The Museum worked with UK agency SomeOne on a new marketing campaign, Come to Life – a fun, approachable and highly shareable campaign filled with playful puns. The Museum also used visitor research to improve the Visit section of the website, making it easier to plan a visit and increasing overall traffic to the section. As a Events in the Earth Hall result of the Come to Life campaign and user experience Inspiring spaces helped contribute to the £3.3 improvements, there was a 25 per cent increase in visit In a busy 12 months for venue hire, the It was also a successful year for million in profits generated by planning online. The campaign helped drive a massive Museum hosted 165 corporate and private filming, with larger projects including an private hire this year increase in visitor numbers. events with total profits reaching £3.3 advert for Microsoft and a scene for a new million, beating last year’s total by more Hollywood blockbuster. than £1 million. The ice rink was sponsored this year Twenty-two weddings were held, a record by Universal’s The Grinch and welcomed for the Museum, rising from 13 in 2017/18. 210,000 skaters during its three-month run, Christmas party packages in Earth Hall also an increase of 40,000 from 2017/18. Takings increased from last year, and the popular Hintze rose significantly in the adjacent café, kiosk Hall hosted 89 events, including a record- and merry-go-round. The creative for the Come to Life breaking 14 in October, closely followed by campaign had a strong impact in November and December with 13 events each. physical settings and proved highly shareable online

46 Annual Review 2018/19 47 GIFTS AND PARTNERSHIPS

As a not-for-profit organisation, charitable partnerships and contributions Members and Patrons A legacy with wings Challenge events form a vital source of income for the Museum’s work. Strategic relationships with corporates, individuals and funders who share our ambitions and purpose have The Museum’s Members and In a time of reduced public funding In the financial year 2018/19, the Museum encouraged Patrons are at the very heart of our and economic turmoil, gifts in a record-breaking number of people to take part in our made a significant impact this year, creating ambassadors and advocates for mission to create advocates for wills are more important than ever challenge events, supporting participants as they raised the work of the Museum. the planet. Related programmes before. Legacies are crucial to how money for the Museum and the profile of conservation aim to build a strong and engaged far the Museum can advance the causes. These events included the Virgin London community that feels a sense of science of nature for the benefit of Marathon, the world-class cycling event Prudential belonging and a connection to the society today and in the future. RideLondon–Surrey 100 and the Museum’s very own Museum’s values. The Museum holds one of the 10km parkrun, Race for Nature. Mission partners Membership has performed well largest historical ornithological The Museum works to create mutually beneficial this year with growth at six per cent collections in the world, composed partnerships with companies that share our values. and a closing population of just over of over one million skins, 18,000 These provide vital funding but also offer opportunities 17,400 members (approximately skeletons, 250,000 eggs, 18,000 Digital butterflies to enhance the Museum’s public offering and 34,900 memberships) generating specimens in spirit and 4,000 nests. Birdwings are among some of the most endangered reach new audiences. income of just over £1.1 million. In June 2018, the Museum received butterflies in the world. In order to make data about In addition to its continued sponsorship of the Retention rates also increased by a very generous residuary legacy Natural History Museum birdwing specimens widely Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in London, six per cent, demonstrating that gift from Mr Peter C Tansley. This available, an individual donor funded a project to the renewable energy company Ørsted is helping the engagement with members is transformative gift will support digitise the entire collection. This donor also funded Museum pioneer a joint education initiative running beginning to deepen. the care and enhancement of a public display at the Natural History Museum at until 2020 that explores how to encourage students’ Support from Members and the Museum’s bird collections Tring to raise awareness about the Queen Alexandra aspirations in science. Generate: Scientists of the Patrons is critical to funding and related research carried out birdwing butterfly. Future is inspired by the acclaimed ASPIRES research ongoing research and education at the Museum in London and Most specimens in the Museum’s unparalleled project run by King’s College London and seeks to build programmes and to preserving our at Tring. Tansley’s legacy marks Lepidoptera collection are over 100 years old, meaning ‘science capital’ among students. collections for future generations. the largest gift received by the they pre-date changes in climate influenced by humans. In 2018, the leading electronics company Panasonic ornithology department to date Digitising the birdwing butterflies collection will enable LUMIX became associate sponsor of the Wildlife and highlights the impact that one studies into how global distributions of these important Photographer of the Year exhibition and the newly legacy can make. groups of butterflies have changed over the century – Bond of Brothers by David Lloyd won the named LUMIX People’s Choice Award in a three-year aiding conservation planning and helping benchmark Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX multifaceted partnership. Specially appointed LUMIX People’s Choice Award 2018 human impact on our planet. ambassadors will accompany Museum scientists on international field trips and provide LUMIX cameras to help document their research. Mike Owen, Professional Adventure as an associate sponsor, to inspire the A wall of learning Imaging Marketing Manager at Panasonic LUMIX UK next generation of scientists by using technology for The Museum is embarking on a spaces and, as part of a national said, “It is really exciting to be partnering with the good. With Dell EMC, the Museum also developed the major partnership project to tackle programme of museums and Natural History Museum and their Wildlife Photographer progressive web app, Dippy’s Naturenauts, aimed at the challenges facing urban nature wildlife organisations, promote of the Year exhibition. Panasonic has a long and inspiring the nation to explore the natural world on and to connect people with the learning, connection and action. successful background in creating high-quality content their doorstep. natural world. The Urban Nature A gift from the Evolution and collaborating with one of the foremost photo New partners Pukka Herbs supported the Project will include the creation of Education Trust is supporting a exhibitions in the world, also with a reputation for high- Sensational Butterflies exhibition in 2018. The an inspirational outdoor experience crucial component of this project: quality photography, is a natural fit for us.” company’s herbal teas and wellbeing supplements are for all to enjoy and ensure the living an Evolution Wall in the East A new year-long partnership with the LEGO Group 100 per cent certified organic by the Soil Association, natural world becomes an integral Garden, which will provide a seeks to inspire the builders of tomorrow to learn about and the partnership helped to champion British part of visiting the Museum for more timeline to tackle a significant An individual donation is vastly the natural world through play. At an event in August pollinators in back gardens, window boxes and than five million people a year. learning hurdle. Understanding improving the Museum’s ability 2018 children could build their own creations using allotments around the country. The partnership forms The five-acre grounds of the the scope of deep time is crucial to share data about our collection the new LEGO ‘Plants from Plants’, while a new series part of Pukka’s commitment to give over one per cent of South Kensington site are to be to grasping the evolution of life of birdwings, such as this Queen of Mission to Mars workshops delivered with LEGO its revenue to environmental causes every year. transformed to tell the story of and geological processes. The wall Alexandra birdwing (Ornithoptera Education Partner Raising Robots will invite school Leading specialised transporter of fine art, antiques, profound change over time on our will enable a better grasp of our alexandrae), among the world’s most endangered butterflies pupils to create and code Martian rovers using LEGO design furniture and decorative objects Williams & Hill is planet and encourage everyone to place in the Earth’s story and more Education WeDo 2.0 robotics sets. generously supporting Dippy on Tour: A Natural History connect with nature. The gardens meaningful exploration of exhibits The long-time Natural History Museum supplier Adventure by transporting Dippy to the eight venues for will inform people how to take within the Museum. Dell EMC is supporting Dippy on Tour: A Natural History the duration of his tour. action for sustainability in urban

48 Annual Review 2018/19 49 OUR SUPPORTERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whose funding on behalf of the UK public makes our work possible.

We are grateful to all our philanthropic supporters and corporate partners – their generous support increases the impact of our popular public galleries in South Kensington and Tring, the research of our scientific community, and our innovative learning and outreach programmes.

Our thanks also extend to our Board of Trustees, our Ambassadors and all of our volunteers for their time, expertise and continuing commitment to the Museum’s mission – to inspire a love of our natural world and to unlock answers to the big issues facing humanity and the planet.

The Director’s Circle Philanthropic supporters The Cadogan Charity The A. G. Leventis Foundation Dame Vivien Duffield Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Evolution Education Trust The John S Cohen Foundation Jeremy Herrmann The DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund Sir Michael and Lady Hintze National Lottery Heritage Fund Professor Anthony and Mrs Angela Marmont The John Jefferson Smurfit Monegasque Lord Rothschild Foundation and Norma Smurfit Dame Theresa Sackler John Spedan Lewis Foundation Guy Weston The Calleva Foundation The Claude and Sofia Marion Foundation The David Webster Charitable Trust The Eranda Rothschild Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Gerald Ronson Family Foundation The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation The John Coates Charitable Trust The Lord Leonard and Lady Estelle Wolfson Foundation The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation The Sackler Trust The Street Foundation The Wolfson Foundation William Brake Charitable Trust Workman LLP

A Tawny owl, Strix aluco, in the critically acclaimed Life in the 50 Dark exhibition Corporate partners and members Patrons Airbnb Kamal Ahuja and Anna Ahuja Stephen and Anne Pearson American Express Toby and Kate Anstruther Mariela Pissioti Blancpain Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks Richardson Brothers Foundation Bloomberg LP Jolyon and Sam Barker Stuart and Bianca Roden Cisco Francis and Jo Beddington Chris Rokos DELL EMC Roy Bedlow Nicola and Michael Sacher Dixons Carphone Jonny Binks and Saskia Hill Dr Miranda Scanlon Edwardian Hotels Limited Stephanie Binks and Arim Cockrane Dr Martin Schoernig GSK Tom and Sara Binks Holly Smith and Neil Osborn IMG Arts & Entertainment Paul and Peggy Brett Angela and Harvey Soning LEGO Company Lorraine Buckland Raksha Sriram and Sriram Nadathur Ørsted David Cantillon and Marisa Knightley Lawrence and Alice Staden LUMIX by Panasonic Julian and Jenny Cazalet Professor Eleanor Stride Pukka Herbs Andrew and Amelia Cross and Mr Matthew Ellacott Regatta Clothing Julian Darley and Helga Sands Kevin Tuffnell Rio Tinto Andrew and Lucy Darwin John and Marian Walden Time Out Sir Michael Dixon Glenys Owen Williams Universal Pictures William Dodwell Martin Williams Williams & Hill Mrs. Maurizio Dwek Nigel and Shane Winser James Earls John and Amelia Winter NHM Ambassadors Dianne Edwards Brian and Doreen Winterflood Brent Cheshire CBE FGS FEI Charles and Susan Fairbairn Camilla and Bruce Withington David de Rothschild Kit and Alison Farrow Paul Edwards Adam Filby Debbie Hannam Kenneth and Lillemor Gardener Dean N Menegas Lord Stephen Green Chris and Alessia Milner Sophie Gul Jonathan Milner Jenny and Ryan Prince Sinead Read Debbie Hannam Lisa Ronson Will Harris and Heather Adkins Sir Max Hastings Chair, Natural History Anthony and Gay Hoare Museum Digital Council Lois Hunt Mark Read Zane Jackson Nicole Lagneau Those who remembered the Steven Larcombe and Sonya Leydecker Museum in their will Roger Latham Philip W. Darwin Sir Sydney Lipworth QC Peter C. Tansley and Lady Lipworth CBE Jasmina Ljuhar Other supporters George and Angie Loudon We would also like to thank those Julian Lush supporters who wish to remain Stuart and Ellen Lyons Charitable Trust anonymous, those who support us The Makin Family through regular giving, Natural History The Marsh Christian Trust Museum Members and those who have Charles S McVeigh III participated in challenge events in Hilary Newiss support of our work. Robert Noel

A display of fauna from the Macaronesian region, generously supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, now welcomes visitors to the Museum in South Kensington Annual Review 2018/19 53 Running Head

Natural History Museum Credits Cromwell Road Inside front: Young Wildlife London SW7 5BD Photographer of the Year +44 (0)20 7942 5000 2018 winner. © Skye Meaker

Natural History Museum at Tring Page 4: Papilio Akeman Street natewa. © Greg Kerr Tring Hertfordshire HP23 6AP Page 5: Skye Meaker +44 (0)20 7942 6171 at Davos. © World Economic Forum / © The Natural History Museum, 2019 Sandra Blaser; Boosting ISBN 978-0-565-09508-6 biomimetics. © Dr Jianyu / Harvard University Published by Cultureshock

Shiro Echo is an environmentally friendly, Page 8: A jewel squid. high-quality recycled paper produced using Photo: Keith Larby/ carbon-neutral electrical energy. It is produced Alamy Live News from 100% post-consumer recycled waste Page 12: Dippy in Glasgow. and carries FSC accreditation. Swallowtail © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Print have the environmental standard ISO14001, FSC accreditation and print using Page 18: Skye Meaker at vegetable-based inks. the World Economic Forum. © World Economic Forum / Sandra Blaser

Page 20: Hong Kong BioBlitz. © ATUM Images

Page 23: Dig site in Wyoming. © The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

Page 24: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Grand Title winner. © Marsel van Oosten

Page 36: Plotosus lineatus. Photo: WaterFrame / Alamy Stock Photo

Page 41: Toyota Mirai. Photo: Professional Images

Page 42: A dinner in the Earth Hall. © Bespoke Events

Page 46: Bond of Brothers by David Lloyd. © David Lloyd

All other images: © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

A tray of Bilberry bumblebees, Bombus monticola, from the Museum’s collection of more than 34 million entomology specimens ‘As a trusted scientific authority with global reach, we are powerfully placed to help individuals, governments and society at large to create a future where people and the planet thrive’

Lord Green, Chair of Trustees and Sir Michael Dixon, Museum Director